


let me be that I am

by Covenmouse



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27283414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Covenmouse/pseuds/Covenmouse
Summary: Ever the over-indulgent friend, Mina sends Rei to a meeting ostensibly to fix a mess she's made only for Rei to realize she's been deceived.
Relationships: Hino Rei/Jadeite
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	let me be that I am

**Author's Note:**

  * For [apsaraqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/apsaraqueen/gifts).



> A cheerup gift for a friend of mine; just a short tidbit, really.

No one was allowed to call Rei a bad friend. A hag, a harpy, a harridan, sure. She was all of those things. She was also a sucker for a pair of big blue eyes with a laundry list of self-created problems to fix. 

Sighing, she entered the cafe. 

The establishment Minako chose was quality enough to smell like heaven while expensive enough to have relatively few customers scattered through the various seating areas. That was good on both accounts. The latter because Rei didn’t know this man from Adam, but even she felt a little guilty about having to do this to someone in public so the fewer people, the better; and the former because if she was going to get through another one of these, she was going to do it with a decent cup of coffee.

She paused at the counter to place an order, all the while wondering if meeting him like this was better or worse than letting him come to the inevitable conclusion on his own? She wasn’t sure. And didn’t much care. He’d already seen her; it was too late to back out now.

The barista scrawled her name across a cup, handed her back her debit card, and Rei proceeded toward the booth where Minako’s hapless date had posted himself.

June Sato was a reasonably handsome Japanese-American guy with a surfer’s tan, tousled, bleach-blonde hair and a smile that lit the room when he saw her coming toward him. Regardless of her feelings about doing Minako’s dirty work for her, that gave Rei pause. Either he flirted with every reasonably attractive woman who crossed his path--not uncommon for Minako’s taste in men, honestly--or else he thought he knew her. 

_ Did _ she know him? She didn’t think so. According to Minako, June was a prop designer from a local effects shop. As an executive producer, Rei rarely had any reason to mingle with the day-to-day workers. Then again, it was possible he’d seen her around, or she’d been on a set when he was setting a project up. Hollywood really was so insular, it wasn’t out of bounds.

That made this situation a little worse, actually, and Rei inwardly cursed Minako. She loved the woman like a sister, but Mina really needed to learn not to shit where she ate. 

“June?” Rei asked, since it was only polite.

“Hey.” His smile only broadened as he stood, but didn’t offer her a hand as she might expect. 

“I know you weren’t expecting me but—” Rei had already begun, when she heard June saying:

“I was starting to wonder if you’d catch one look and run.”

They both stopped, stared at each other, then June tipped his head one way with a strange little smile, “Sorry, what?”

“Ah—”

The barista called her name, and Rei shook herself off. “One second.”

“Sure.”

Collecting her coffee gave Rei a moment to process the fact that June didn’t seem at all perturbed by her presence. In fact, it seemed like he’d been expecting it.

She joined him back at the booth, both sitting on their respective sides, and caught him glancing at her drink. “Don’t say it.”

“Say what?” 

“I know what you’re thinking. I can  _ tell _ .”

“Psychic, huh?” His pale blue eyes twinkled as he grinned, and shook his own, half-filled cup for emphasis. “Pumpkin spice is the flavour of the season.”

Rei hid the faintest smile behind her with her coffee. At least she wasn’t going to get teased--again--for her “basic bitch” tastes. “So. What were you saying a minute ago?”

“Oh, nothing. Just a bit of self-effacing humour to awkward things up. I’m pretty good at that. Especially in front of smart, pretty women.”

Rei’s brow lifted slowly. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“That’s not true.”

Her other brow rose to join it’s mate. “Oh really? And what do you think you know?”

“Mmm I know you only refuse to call the Senator anything other than Raging Twatwaffle.”

“And that indicates  _ intelligence  _ these days?” Rei asked, mostly to cover a few alarming thoughts about what this situation might actually be. Either this man was a stalker… or Minako was more devious than Rei had given her credit for. 

“It would be a somewhat low bar, admittedly, but…” June gestured vaguely out the window, and Rei snorted in agreement. “Besides, I was more impressed by your takedown of the Salingerites.”

“ _ Salingerites _ ?”

Now June was beginning to look a little unsure himself. Still, he answered, “Y’know. The people who act like college kids intent on proving their supposed altruism--despite the fact that Salinger himself was a narcissistic little asshole--while simultaneously proving that they’ve never read anything by him other than  _ The Catcher in the Rye. _ ”

He followed this up with, “Or have I mistaken you for someone else?”

“No, that was definitely me,” said Rei, frowning. She’d said that more than once, in fact. Usually to Minako. 

“So… is it the blonde? Or just the whole me being an effects guy? Cause I put both on my profile, but you’d be surprised how many women think one or the other’s a joke until they meet me,” June asked slowly, though there was a new darkness to his eyes that Rei didn’t like. It wasn’t a dangerous sort of darkness, just… disappointed? Tired? Sad? 

Whatever it was, she hated the fact that she’d put it there. Sure, she’d come in here intending to break the news that Minako was standing him up. But that was on Minako. 

... _ technically _ this was on Minako, too, but somehow it felt more personal the longer she sat here with him. Something about how calm he was; taking everything in stride, turning it into a joke even when he was ultimately the butt of it all.

“Nothing like that, I’m just a little confused is all. Can I ask a stupid question?”

“Stupid questions are the best questions.”

“Who did you think you were meeting here today?”

It was June’s turn to raise his eyebrows to hairline height. That was really all the answer Rei needed, though he tacked on a querulous, “You?” for good measure.

“I’m going to jail for murder.”

“Well this date just got exciting. Do you need an alibi or a shovel?” He cocked his head to one side. “Unless I’m the intended corpse, because I  _ kind of _ have  _ Knights _ tickets for this weekend, and I’d been looking forward to inviting you. Then again, I guess if you murder then you’d still get to go.”

“I wasn’t--No, not you.” Rei rubbed her forehead as her cheeks lit brighter than the sun. “Minako.”

“Aino? The actress?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Where do you think we met?”

“Tinder?” June waited a beat before he frowned. “You didn’t post your profile there, did you?”

“Nope.”

“Minako did?”

“Yep.”

June nodded, drained his coffee, and said, “I can probably borrow a shovel from work. But that still seems like third date territory; maybe second date-- _ if _ we agree not to count this.”

Rei laughed, she couldn’t help it, and was glad when she was rewarded with a renewed smile from June. He did have a really beautiful smile, when it came down to it. “You still want to take me out? After this insanity?”

“I still want to know more about the woman who threatens to murder her friends in front of a complete stranger, yes,” he agreed. “Especially if she has such strong opinions about Salinger. I’d kind of like to know what else lies in this salt mine.”

Chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully, Rei regarded the man across from her. She wasn’t the sort to indulge in blind dates--a fact which Minako knew very well--and hadn’t really been applying herself ‘to the market’ for years--another fact which Minako knew, and had been protesting for all of those said years. Perhaps, just perhaps, this one was worth a shot.

Even though she privately vowed to get her revenge. There would be time for that later. Much later.

“I don’t mind counting this, if you don’t,” Rei said, and took another sip of her coffee. “So… you seem to know quite a bit about me. Why don’t you tell me a bit about  _ you? _ ”


End file.
